Chapter 73 Prisoner Camp
In the early morning of the 4th, Myron Gardner woke up from his sleep. He finished washing up with a depressed expression and came to the castle's restaurant for breakfast.
At night, he dreamed of the scene when he overheard the conspiracy. This incident had already caused a major blow to his soul.
Yesterday, his brother Paul Graiman led his troops to Bairding to attack those rebels. I don’t know what the current situation is like.
He trusted Paul very much. Seeing how confident Paul looked, he should be able to end the war soon.
After breakfast, Philip, the butler of the Graiman family, came to him and said that Director Ford and Baron Abbott wanted to see him, so he came to the hall to meet them.
"Congratulations, Earl!" Steward Ford and Baron Abbott stood up to congratulate him as soon as they saw him.
Myron was full of questions: "What happened?"
Old Ford explained: "Yesterday afternoon, Lord Graiman had defeated the traitors Angelo, Abt and others. People, Butuya City is already under the control of our army."
Myron opened his mouth in surprise and asked in disbelief: "Isn't he just setting off yesterday? "
He thought that even if Angelo and others could be defeated in a field battle, with Butuya's city walls and the reserves inside, it would still take a week of siege to break the city. Last night I was worried about the safety of the residents in the city for half the night.
"The troops of Angelo and others are just a bunch of farmers who have just been recruited for a few days. They are just a ragtag group. Even if they have some private soldiers on weekdays, they can't change the overall situation." Hansel on the layout When I was young, I saw the soldiers patrolling the streets. They were loose and in disgrace. They were far inferior to the elite soldiers in Huxin Town.
Myron held his hands in front of his chest and prayed: "Thank you, Lord of Light, for your blessing!"
Controller Ford smiled and said to Myron: "Master Graiman, please come today. Return to Butuya so that Bailding's people can be calmed down as soon as possible."
Myron nodded: "Okay, I'll leave immediately."
...
Paul was in the Lord's Mansion in Butua, listening to the report on the results of yesterday's battle.
According to the information obtained from interrogating several knights and small leaders, the rebels have more than 2,000 troops, of which nearly 400 are private soldiers that Angelo and others had before, and about 300 are hired soldiers. Soldiers, the rest are farmers or serfs recruited from all over Bairding.
After the battle, the Arda army captured a total of 823 prisoners of all kinds. All the other living people were scattered in the battle. Together with the knights who were killed by shotguns, a total of 98 enemies were killed, and 98 enemies were killed. There are a large number of injured people who will not be counted.
He told the officer in charge of the prisoners: "Screen them carefully. If they are farmers who have just been recruited, feed them a full meal and let them go home, so as not to have to eat our food here. If He is a former private soldier of the rebels. He will be detained for a while and released after the situation stabilizes. If he is a knight, he will not be released without my order."
The officer asked: "Don't you stay with those serfs? Theoretically, they are not prisoners, but trophies."
Paul was startled and said: "Let them choose. If they If they are willing to go to Arda, I will make them free citizens. If they want to return to their original place, don't stop them."
Although Paul's decision was strange, the officer still wrote it down.
Paul continued: "Those who have been killed, spread the news of our victory and let their families come to claim them. If no one claims them or can't wait, bury them first."
As for the Arda army itself, there were only 16 lightly wounded and 3 seriously wounded, but there were no serious injuries.
This is thanks to the large number of firearms. When the enemy approaches, a row of lead bullets or a few grenades can disperse a large group of people.
A soldier in charge asked slightly embarrassedly: "There are some seriously injured but still alive prisoners. Look..."
"How many injuries?"
"Incapacitated, or even unconscious."
Paul became embarrassed, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Save if you can, I don't want the Arda army to have the reputation of being cold and cruel. Take me to the place where these prisoners are placed first.”
After arriving at the camp where severely injured prisoners were placed, the smell was very unpleasant, mixed with carrion, spirits, herbs, olive oil (used to stop bleeding) and various other indistinguishable odors.
The painful groans came one after another in the camp, constantly irritating Paul's nerves.
Alda's army has not yet been equipped with full-time military doctors, so it can only use some people with experience in treating wounds as guest appearances, and the methods are relatively crude. Almost none of those who were directly hit in the body by solid shells survived. The adults placed here were all injured by spears, bullets, and shotguns.
Those who were injured by spears were fine, but for those who were injured by muskets or shotguns, they could only tie the patients up and die according to their previous experience in dealing with arrow wounds. Hold it down, put a wooden stick in your mouth, then use a knife to remove the lead bullet from the wound, apply herbal ointment and wrap it with a bandage.
For those injured whose limbs were obviously irreparable, there was only one method available - to cut them off with a saw.
Paul happened to witness such an unfortunate operation. The tragic scene made him quickly exit the tent after just one glance.
Bryce quietly said to him: "Those people who are obviously unable to be saved, are they..." He made a gesture of wiping his neck.
After struggling for a while, Paul said helplessly: "Give them a happy life."
Even the wounded prisoners who were being treated could only do their best and obey fate. In this world with backward medical technology and almost no concept of hygiene, even if their lives are temporarily saved, many injured people will die from wound infections such as tetanus, and the mortality rate is extremely high.
This inspection reminded Paul that it was time to establish a more formal medical system, especially in the military.
In previous battles, the Arda army relied on its equipment and system advantages to crush the opponent, with very few casualties, but what about the future?
If you encounter an evenly matched or more powerful opponent in the future, there will definitely be a large number of seriously injured people, so battlefield medical treatment is very important. Do you have to rely on the primitive medical technology in front of you or the holy water of the magicians to save your precious soldiers?
Absolutely not! Every soldier is precious, and how much effort they put into them. In the current situation where the army is small, the death of every soldier is an extremely heavy loss, especially those experienced veterans, who are the seeds for future army expansion.
And the people also need an advanced medical system. Not to mention other things, just when a woman gives birth to a child, the mortality rate from maternal to infant mortality is extremely high.
Paul remembered reading some information in his previous life, which showed that the maternal mortality rate in ancient China was as high as 30%, and the infant mortality rate before the founding of New China was about 20%. Presumably, in this world where the level of social development was similar to that of the Middle Ages , the data won’t look good either.
"Even if the medical level cannot be improved immediately, the nursing level must at least be improved. This is quite easy to do."
Paul looked at the dirty and messy wounded camp, I thought so in my heart.
He remembered that during the Crimean War, despite the presence of military doctors in the British army, the casualty mortality rate was still very high until the arrival of Florence Nightingale, the originator of nursing.
Although Nightingale did not have superb medical skills, by cleaning hospital wards, washing soldiers' clothes, improving ventilation and drainage environment, etc., she actually reduced the mortality rate of British soldiers from 42% It dropped to 2.2%. She also earned the title of "Goddess with the Lamp" because of her meticulous care of the soldiers.
Based on her own investigations and military data, Nightingale used statistical knowledge to make a soldier's health analysis report, thus confirming that the number of people who died from disease infections during the war far exceeded the casualties directly caused by the war.
Let’s start by improving the hygiene of the captive camps. Since the day of the military reform, Paul has always emphasized the sanitary conditions in the military camp. Therefore, the place where the soldiers live is very clean, but the place where the prisoners are placed is not very particular. It is not like housing a group of uncles, so why bother doing it.
He called the officer who was in charge of the prisoner camp and severely criticized him.
"The prisoner camp is so dirty and messy. What if a disease breaks out and we are infected too?"
The earl was very angry, and the officers were trained to be so arrogant. Make a sound.
A lot of care measures for the wounded were put forward, such as: garbage and dirty water must be cleaned up in time; tents must be ventilated; and the wounded's clothes must be boiled and sterilized with boiling water.
"What is sterilization? Just follow it first."
After giving some instructions, Paul returned to the Lord's Mansion. The soldiers on guard told him that Earl Myron Garnard had already Waiting for him inside.
So fast? He was a little surprised.
Well, it’s time to have a good talk with this blood-sworn brother.
I worked overtime tonight and came back quite late, so I uploaded it late, sorry!
(End of this chapter)